Conservation of the Submariners' Memorial

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THE SUBMARINERS MEMORIAL

(F. Brook Hitch and AH Ryan Tenison, 1922)

location:

Victoria Embankment, London

client:

The City of London

A memorial in the form of a monumental granite plinth set into the Thames embankment wall, on which is mounted a large bas-relief sculptural bronze plaque.

To either side of this central bronze plaque are forty bronze wreath hooks in the form of anchors.

Prior to conservation, the patination of all the bronze elements was a black-brown, overlying a naturally formed green patina. The stonework was generally dirty and streaked with sulphation, traffic film and algal growth. The wreath hooks were intact but had been fixed using ferrous screws which had heavily corroded, allowing one of the hooks to have been stolen.

We removed all the wreath hooks and cast a new hook to replace the stolen one. We then cleaned all the bronze elements and the stonework using high pressure steam, followed by repatination of all bronze elements over the top of the existing natural patina to unify the colour to a dark brown. We then applied four coats of clear wax. All the anchor wreath hooks were refixed using bronze pins. Defective stonework joints were raked out and remortared.

The memorial is now maintained by us every year.

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